(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to litter boxes and, more particularly, to a plurality of removable and disposable layers which can be positioned between the litter box and the litter of a pet owner's preexisting litter box.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
The use of a litter box or the like for animals confined to a house or apartment is well known. In general, a pan or box is provided and contains a quantity of sand or other granular material such as a commercial kitty litter. The cleaning of such litter boxes is an unpleasant chore for most pet owners.
It is also known that the useable life of the granular litter may be extended by separating the solid animal waste or excrement from the litter. One rather unpleasant method of removing the animal exrement is by using a hand held scoop or a small strainer. A number of United States patents in the prior art disclose various litter box constructions for pets, particularly cats, in which the solid animal excrement can be separated therefrom to permit reuse of the litter. Examples of these prior art devices are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,963,003; 3,100,474; 3,796,188; 3,908,597; 4,217,857; 4,325,822; and 4,359,966. However, these prior art litter box arrangements are impractical to use and expensive to manufacture since they utilize complicated constructions involving the use of numerous component parts such as a plurality of receptacles, screen devices, and/or multiple partitions in a single apparatus.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved litter box arrangement which permits the separation of the solid animal waste from the granular litter to permit reuse of the litter and which is inexpensive to manufacture, is easy to use and permits quick separation of the granular litter from the excrement, with easy disposl of the separated excrement.
The granular litter has a limit as to the number of times it may be reused and will eventually need to be disposed of entirely. U.S. Pat. No. 3,141,441 discloses a litter box with a single screening structure disposed within a litter box for screening the excrement or other solid matter from the granular litter material or sand. However, after the litter has been screened only one time, the litter will be positioned immediately adjacent the litter box. To remove the litter from the box itself, the box must be handled in order to dump the litter, containing the animal excrement, into another container for disposal thereof. Such a procedure is unpleasant and time consuming and often results in the litter or excrement, or both, being spilled all over the floor. In addition, this arrangement permits the litter to be screened and reused only a single time.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,825 discloses litter box arrangements in which an additional layer or receptacle is placed between the litter box and the litter. By withdrawing this additional receptacle, the litter and excrement may be easily removed from the litter box. However, this device does not provide a means for easily removing the solid excrement from the litter to permit reuse of the litter. Indeed, U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,825 suggests the use of a shovel to remove the solid waste material.
Accordingly, it is another object of the present invention to provide a litter box arrangement which allows the solid excrement to be separated from the litter a number of times but which also allows the litter to be finally disposed of in a neat, clean and quick manner.